Natalie Krigstein
Natalie Krigstein, (September 9, 1919 - September 29, 1997)SSDI record née Horvitz, was a writer of romance stories for Timely/Atlas (under Stan Lee), DC (under Robert Kanigher), and Prize (under Joe Simon and Jack Kirby) from 1949 to 1955. Life and Career She was married to acclaimed artist Bernie Krigstein. In 1946, she gave birth to their first son, but she was left bedridden for about a year. Soon after she recovered, their son died at sixteen months in the summer of 1947. In 1949, their daughter Cora was born and Bernie brought home the first of the romance assignments that she would write. She majored in English at Brooklyn College and was excited at the prospect of writing comics. When she submitted her first script to Stan Lee, she used the pseudonym "Natalie Kingston" both to avoid embarrassing her husband if she failed, and to prove herself on her own.Krigstein, Natalie, Forward to Sadowski, Greg, B. Krigstein. Seattle: Fantagraphics, Inc. 2002. pp. xii. While her work was uncredited, as usual for the time, her work is identifiable because she frequently used her daughter's name for her characters; editors eventually started to chastise her for the repetition.Personal correspondence with son-in-law, Gary Zaboly. 26 Jan 11 She said of her experiences writing for the different companies: : One of DC's rules was that every story had to have some kind of exciting climax or crisis of a physical nature, a fire, you know, or a rescue of some kind....They paid very well, but they were namby-pamby books. I wrote my best stuff for Simon and Kirby because I knew they would go for it more; I could use humor, character. They were the kind of people who would break the rules."Romance Comics," The Encyclopedia of American Comics From 1897 to the Present, ed. Ron Goulart, New York: Facts on File, 1990. p.313; uncredited inline, quote verified by Gary Zaboly. She quit writing comics when romance comics fell out of favor, but she continued to support her husband's work, including posing for his reference images for his best known story, "Master Race". Bibliography *Best Love (1949) #35 **"I Learned What It Meant To Be Jilted!" *Girls' Love Stories(1949) #3, 8-10, 14-15 **"I Reached for the Moon" (3) **"Love Sets a Trap" (3) **"The End of Love" (14) **"Romantic Reunion" (15) *Girls' Romances (1950) #3, 7, 10-11, 13-14 **"Password to Love" (7) **"Foolish Illusion" (7) **"Second Sweetheart" (10) **"Castoff Sweetheart" (13) **"Love Without Faith" (13) *Love Adventures (1949) v1#2 **"I Was A Slave Of Jealousy!" *Secret Hearts (1949) #5, 7 *Young Brides (1952) v1#1-2, 5, v2#4 **"Teen-Age Mother!" (v1#1) **"My Hero!" (v1#1) **"Surprise! Surprise!" (v1#1) **"Country Cousins" (v2#4) *Young Romance (1947) v5#5-7, 9 *Young Love (1949) v3#8, v5#4 Gallery Romantic-reunion.jpg|From Girls' Love Stories #15 Sources *Portrait Credit: Pencilled by Bernie Krigstein, c. 1939 *Writing Credits from Personal Correspondence with Gary Zaboly, 29 Mar 2012, and Grand Comics Database - 'Natalie Krigstein' Category:Golden Age Category:Comic Books Category:Writers Category:American creators Category:Jewish creators Category:1919 Births Category:1997 Deaths